Watch eight Corvettes disappear into a 40ft-wide sinkhole

Not content with swallowing a VW Lupo, mother nature decided to consume eight classic Corvettes in one fell swoop. The event was caught on video by CCTV at the National Corvette Museum and has since gone viral.

The sinkhole seen opening up in the video, which swallowed six museum-owned cars and two on loan from General Motors, occurred at 5:44am on Wednesday 12th 2014. Staff were alerted when the museum security alarm went off. The Bowling Green Fire Department estimates the sinkhole is 40ft-wide and 25 to 30ft-deep.

The list of cars lost in the abyss includes a ZR-1 Spyder, PPG pace car, 1993 ruby red 40th anniversary Corvette and a 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06. Although an official damage estimate is yet to be made, reports say the figure approaches US$1million.

Since then 80 vehicles in the collection have been evacuated from the area within the iconic Sky Dome. Authorities are currently working out how to rescue two remaining cars.

“Safety will be paramount, but we will also want to save the cars as fast as we can,” museum executive director Wendell Strode told USA Today. “Every car has a story behind it. There’s been tears shed back there this morning.”

Experts say the area of Kentucky is prone to sinkholes because it lies on carbonate bedrock.

“Dissolution sinkholes form over long periods of time, with occasional episodes of more rapid subsidence or collapse,” the Kentucky Geological survey explains. “It is the collapse of the loose cover over the bedrock or soil that causes the problem. Sometimes the collapse will occur in an area with no indication of previous subsidence.”

Check out the original CCTV sinkhole video and then a video of the aftermath taken by a drone. Whether a fan of Corvette or not, the video makes for chilling viewing. Many of the cars were one-of-a-kinds.

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